Hey guess what… The Kids Are Alright! – Well most of the time…
This post is dedicated to the silly 17-year-old who was recently arrested for his very daft (and hopefully in the long-term forgettable) Twitter run-in with Olympic diver Tom Daley. Now just to get this clear upfront… this kid was an idiot, Tom is a fantastic athlete and did not in any way deserve the abuse he suffered. But let’s also stop to pause a moment… The young chap who sent these tweets was exactly that… a young kid. If you didn’t catch the story you can get the general gist of what happened here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/diving/9442445/Hunt-for-Tom-Daley-Twitter-troll-seaside-police-raid-nets-suspect-17.html
I watched Twitter whilst this story was breaking and resisted the urge to RT his nonsense or call him out for being such an idiot. But it did leave me thinking on this issue and how the fall out has raised many questions about what education is needed for a generation of young people who have grown up with social media, and who at times do not realise the consequences of their internet posts.
Two of my closest friends are teachers at secondary schools in Leeds and they have some pretty shocking stories about what young people get up-to on mobile phones and social media sites. Let’s just say at times it appears there is a lack of ‘inhibition’ amongst some of the young people they teach and this raises challenges for them when protecting their students welfare. Now I say this as someone in their twenties… but even I am shocked at seemingly how little consideration some have for the long-term effects of the kind of information that is put online.
But let’s also put some context around this… I am also equally shocked that a young person could similarly be ‘written off’ by an employer because of something they have, or their friends have (let’s not forget Facebook make it very difficult for the majority to work out how not to be tagged in a drunken night out photo), posted online. After all some people seem far too quick to forget that sites like Facebook and Twitter all started because they are ‘social’ media sites way before any brand or marketeers got involved in them.
So what’s my point and what do I think should be done?
I have X2 points on this issue:
1. Kids need to be educated more about what is and isn’t appropriate content for social media sites and the potential serious consequences of their content
But…
2. Employers and the public in general should (for the majority of the time) give young people and prospective employees a bit of a break when it comes to social media content, because after all… social media only shows a tiny snapshot of that person, not the whole story
So what do I think should be done? This is a tough one…
I think a mix of education within schools and helping parents understand the potential effects of online content could be a good start. Helping kids understand what counts as ‘appropriate’ content for social media sites and that what they put online could be around for a very long time, tied to their name, is also key. But also let’s not patronise a whole generation. When I was 17 I knew it would have been a bad idea to shout abuse at someone in the street – and now Twitter is essentially no different. The interesting and challenging thing for a generation of socially enabled young people is ensuring that they understand social media channels are now the street – and many people can hear you scream!
I don’t think the young chap from the Tom Daley case will be the 1st of last person to display very questionable behaviour on Twitter (he’s given all us Social Media types something to blog about at least). But I do hope some good can come out of it, even if it’s a warning to others that threatening or bullying behaviour on Twitter is, quite rightly, being treated very seriously. But as the acquittal of the ‘Twitter Bomber’ who threatened in a joke tweet to blow up Doncaster airport shows – we are all still finding our way through the social media communication revolution… the rules are developing as quick as the technology!
Great post Kristal and something I have had conversations with people on numerous occasions recently as we have seen more and more instances of high profile ‘problems’ as a result of social media status updates/tweets blowing up into something huge.
I definitely feel that there is a need for an increased emphasis within education on how children approach the use of social media, especially with the dramatic increase in the use of smartphones/tablets and time spent ‘online’. It is hard to gauge the correct approach and ultimately I dont think that the problems solely lies within the education system, with parents having to become more aware of exactly what activities that their children are engaging with online. Generally, I would imagine that a lot of the children will be more ‘social media savvy’ than their parents and the implications of a tweet/status update may not be as apparent to a portion of parents who arent as switched on as others.
The scary thing about all this is the snowball effect and how quickly (especially on Twitter) that something can be shared (even if the original tweet is deleted). So in the instance of the Tom Daley ‘tweets’, the young lad may have had a series of motives (online trolling, attempt at popularity amongst peers etc) and unfortunately for him he picked someone who was high profile enough that it quickly got out of hand, even though I believe he deleted the original tweet and put an apology out. I think this is the point that should be instilled within children (from what age is the tough call!!) and examples like this will serve a purpose to demonstrate the ‘power of twitter’ and potentially how damaging it can be.
In terms of employers using social media to judge people, yes it provides only a snapshot of a person but as we know, it does go on and people need to probably think about how they would come across to a potential employer based on what information is available about them online. I know that my mum’s course at Salford do a great introductory session with new freshers about personal data/information that is publically available on the Internet and it creates a great discussion point for the start of the course.
The point about the teachers is interesting – i have a friend who’s a teacher and her school have banned the the teachers from having facebook/twitter accounts (in their names) after some pretty inappropriate interactions/hijacking from the kids – if they can’t even respect their teachers accounts then how can we get them to respect their peers?
This is a really complex issue as the technology (hard and soft bits) is constantly changing. Static knowledge wouldn’t help young (or older) person negotiate Facebook privacy functionality as this infographic demonstrates http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/ IMHO as someone who has worked on digital literacy (plus other aspects) with undergraduates, what benefits those who engage with changing technology services and media is to retain the curiosity and experimentation of much younger children (before school has knocked it out of them) and add a dash of scepticism that comes from life experience. This is where older and younger people can work together, in defiance of the digital natives discourse, for your point #1.
Your point #2 is threatened by the moral panic that surrounds much reporting in media, and ensuing knee-jerk policies that can make matters worse. Users of social media should face (usually social rather than legal) consequences of their actions with some tolerance towards youth, back to point #1.